Polymers such as certain copolyesters, polycarbonates (PC) cellulosics, impact modified acrylic and styrenic, transparent acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (TABS) are widely used in the medical industry, pharmaceutical industry, bioprocessing industry, and the food industry. Each of these polymers has its own advantages and disadvantages.
A combination of any two or more of the following properties can be important in certain industries, for example, in the medical field, the health care field, the pharmaceutical field, the bioprocessing field, and the food container and food processing field: optical clarity, good toughness, good heat resistance, good lubricity (the capacity to reduce friction and/or properties of a lubricant) such as having a low coefficient of friction (COF), good anti-protein binding properties, reduced fibrinogen adsorption, good hydrolytic stability, and good chemical resistance.
Medical devices are widely used in the healthcare industry to diagnose, mitigate, or prevent disease(s) for patients. These devices include but are not limited to components for infusion and intravenous systems, extracorporeal oxygenators, renal dialyzers catheters, and heart assist devices, all of which require contact with blood. For certain of these medical devices, blood compatibility is an important characteristic. It is well known that a material's surface properties can affect the events of blood protein adsorption and platelet adhesion, particularly when the material is used in a medical device. When most foreign surfaces are exposed to blood or other bodily fluids, proteins from the blood and/or bodily fluids adsorb onto them almost immediately, depending on the material's surface properties.
It also has become increasingly important to use a material in the medical industry, food industry, and in certain other industries that the composition(s), article of manufacture and/or medical device contains substantially little to no bisphenol A, the latter being typically associated with polycarbonates. A material with anti-protein binding properties, including but not limited to reduced fibrinogen adsorption, is of particular interest where living matter (human, animal, organisms, enzymes, etc.) or previously living matter may come into contact with the material, for example, the medical industry, health care industry, pharmaceutical industry, bioprocessing industry, food industry, as well as other industries. Bioprocessing refers to treating or preparing a material through a biological process and can generally refer to production of a commercially useful biological material, chemical, food, drink and/or fuel by biological processes such as microbial fermentation or degradation.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for compositions having a combination of at least two of the described properties that are useful in the manufacture of articles of manufacture and/or devices useful in these industries.